CALLING
By Rajnii Eddins

CALLING: Reclaiming Shared Humanity • Vermont Humanities Speakers Bureau

Calling all artists,
Makers of art and those who trust in its value
As sacred.

The makers of new worlds,
Tenders of the fires of imagination,
Shapers of nations and realities,
Cultivators of
What life can be.

We need your magic,
Your steadfast, unapologetic refusal
To give up hope in the fantastic,
Especially when things get drastic.

Calling all artists!

Lovers of music
That plucks the heartstrings,
Celebrators and honorers of life and new things,
In all its many facets,
And how we do things.

Calling all beautifiers,
Awakeners of human conscience,
Seamers and weavers
Of our tapestry of stories,
The one we all have a thread in.

Calling on
Providers of soft landings for childhood,
Makers of
What can be
Into being.

Definers of
The possible,
AND
Fiery defiers of
The impossible!

We need your shoulders to the wheel.
We need that childlike stubbornness,
Strong as steel,
That refuses to leave the playground,
That says:

We will find a way
To give faith and hope
And love and freedom sway.

That we will find a way
To bless our children,
To see brilliance in the light of day,
To use the very tools that imagination
Creates
To safeguard art that breathes into our hearts
New scapes,
Rebirths our world with deeper worth,
New forms and shapes.

Yes, calling all
Painters,
Poets,
Potters!

Put your pens to the page.
Shape the clay of this land.

We need your undivided attention,
Your unrelenting commitment
To the notion we are worthy of redemption.

We are calling on the spirits of
Those who made a way out of no way
This way.

The finders of lost paths,
The openers of
New dimensions,
Crafters of
Community.

Flood this place and time and space with color!

Let not the drab and stoic march toward hopeless defeat
Take away our dancing feet,
Our singing voices,
Our songs.

Our song,
Sung in unison,
Is calling.

We are calling!

On bigger ideas
Than war and attacks on the poor,
And the banning of books,
And lauding of crooks,
And the telling of lies,
And cultivated despise,
And the trampling of rights,
And the gambling of plights.

We are calling!

On your heart and your hands,
And your mind and your stance.

Calling! (Calling!)

On you to visualize a vision bright enough
To bless your great-great-great-grands.

Yes!

We are calling! (Calling!)

On you, on we,
On us being free
To heed this in unity
And our shared calling.

(Calling!)

Calling! (Calling!)
To break from collusion with silence
In a xenophobic craze.

Calling! (Calling!)
Past confusion and violence
To let love have center stage.

Calling! (Calling!)
Your empathy,
Your energy,
To leave apathy and antipathy behind.

Calling! (Calling!)
For your spine.

Calling! (Calling!)
To put your behind on the bottom line.

Calling! (Calling!)
Like never,
And more
Than ever before,
For your righteous core—clever
To endeavor to soar.

Calling! (Calling!)
On believers—our allegiance
Can bring miracles forth
From a spiritual source
That also brought these lyrics to course.

Calling! (Calling!)
On your blood and your bones,
And everyone in your home,
And everything that you've known
To come calling!

(Calling!)

This is our call to arms—
That embrace,
Warmly grace every face
Through this storm.

Calling! (Calling!)
On the spirit of creativity
To rescue creativity.

Know that we hold the key
And the remedy.

Calling! (Calling!)
Calling! (Calling!)
Calling! (Calling!)
Calling! (Calling!)
Calling! (Calling!)

An invitation to reclaim our shared humanity through creativity, courage, compassion, collective imagination, and the transformative power of art.

A collaborative engagement with Rajnii Eddins and John Vincent of A Revolutionary Press. For more info on booking an engagement, please visit the Vermont Humanities Council.